Improvement in sewing-machines



' 2, Fig. 3, a front elevation 5 Fig. 4, a sectional UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIon.

TILLIAM MUIR, OF MONTREAL, CANADA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Snecifcation forming part of Letters Patent No. 147,153, dated February 3,1874; applicationled I January 29, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WrLLmu Mum, of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machines; and that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying plates of drawing hereinafter referred to and forming a part of the same, is a full and exact speciiication thereof.

The present invention relates to ordinary sewing-machines having a drop-feed,77 so called and it consists in the application to such sewing-machines of mechanical devices, as hereinafter described, receiving mot-ion from the driving-shaft of the machine, and so arranged and lconnected with the feed-bar that the revolution of the driving-sh aft will impart to said feed-bar a lateral movement across the direction of its ordinary feed-movement, and thereby feed the goods under the needle so as to produce zigzag, serpentine, or other similar lines of stitches.

In the accompanying plates of drawings my improvements in sewing-machines are illustrated.

In Plate l, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention, showing the mechanism under the cloth-plate; Fig. 2, a plan view 5 in Plate elevation on line x, Fig. 2, Plate l; Fig. 5, a sectional elevation on line y y, Fig. 2, Plate l Figs. 6 and 7, detail views to be hereinafter referred to.

A in the drawings is the bed-plate, B the main or driving-shaftturning in bearings of posts C', and provided with a driving-pulley, D. E, a cam Xed on outer end of shaft B. This cam E is of the configuration shown in 3, and against its periphery bea-rs one end of a bent lever, F, pivoted to the outer end o f a curved arm, G, that also bears against the portion H of said cam E, and is extended so that by its two arms I I it is just beneath the under side of bed A, moving in guide-posts J of the bed A. This curved arm G carries the feed-block K, the roughened surface of which projects above the bed-plate A through an opening therein. This feed device so far described is not new. L is a horizontal shaft located at one side ofthe shaft B, and secured between aiixed post, M, of the bed-plate A, and a projecting arm, N, fixed to one of the bearing-posts C of the drivin ,f gshaftB.v On this shaft are arranged loosely two cam-cylinders, O and P, each having a peripheral cam-groove, b and c, respectively, of the general shape and outline shown in the drawings. Q and It are ratchet-wheels concentrically Xed, the 011e, Q, to the end of cam-cylinder O, and the other, R, to the end of cam -cylinder P. For turning the ratchet-wheel O a spring-pawl, S, is provided, and for turning the ratchet-wheel B a spring pawl, T. The pawls S and T are hung the one to the outer end of alever, U, and the other to the outer end of a lever, V, both of which are hung upon fulcrum or centers W, respectively, of fixed posts X and Y. The ends of the levers U and V are held by springs. a a2 are vertical arms, turning upon separate fulcrums at b4 b2, respectively, of arms 1612, secured to the bed-plate A. These arms a a2, at

one end, engage with the grooves c and b of the cam-cylinders P and O and at their other ends are pivoted the one, a, to the end of a slide-bar, G2, and the other, a2, to the end of a pitman-rod, D2. The slide-bar G2, wedgeshaped at its outer end, is supported in stationary guide-loops c2, and extends along under the bed-plate against the endl2 of feed-- bar, and between it and the guide-block J.

The pitman-rod Dz'is supported in stationary guide-loops c2, and is connected at its outer end with the feed-bar at h. Lateral movement is given to the feed-bar bythe cam-cylinder O, and the length of the forward movement is controlled by the cam-cylinder P. The camcylinder O receives motion from its ratchetwheel Q, which is operated, by its pawl S on the lever U, twice for each revolution of the shaft B by the cam B2 thereon. This intermittent rotation of the cam 0, through the pitman-rod D2 attached to the feed-bar, moves p such bar intermittingly, iirst in one direction,

and then in the other, across the line of forward feed.

The first lateral movement, above stated, of the feed-bar takes place at the same time the feed-bar is being moved to feed the goods forward, thereby feeding the goods forward and laterally; and the second lateral movement takes place as the feed-bar is lowered and is the goods forward.

f2, into a position so as to increase or reduce,

as the ease may be, the distance which the feedbar will move in its ordinary forward movement under the action of the cam IG.

By the lateral movement of the feed-bar, through the cam O, it is obvious, with a proporshaped cam-groove, b, stitching may be done in a serpentine, zigzag', or other irregular line; and that, furthermore, with a pro1)er-shaped cam-groove, c, in connection with the camgroove b, stitches of a uniform length can be and will be formed.

By the double lateral movements of the feedbar in. one revolution of the driving-shaft B, it is obvious the goods can be fed laterally a greater or less distance-that is, for more or less stitches-with a hole through the bedplate to receive the feed-block K, of no greater width than a width equal to the greatest lateral feed of the goods at any one lateral movement of the feed-bar, for the reason that after each lateral movement of the feed-bar it is returned to its normal position before again operating on the goods.

In Fig. 6 is shown a device, P, hung to the post X in proper position, to throw the lever U off from the cams B2 ot' the driving-shaft B,

thus putting, as it were, out of gear the lateralfeed devices, should it be desired not to give a lateral feed to the goods. lith a similar device, adapted in the same way for the lever V, the operation of the slide-bar C2 can be stopped at pleasure.

The wedge-facefZ ofthe slide-bar C2, shown in Fig. 7, is for the purpose of increasing and decreasing the forward movement of the feedbar; and the wedge-face is hinged to the bar C2, so that, by a set-screw, m, it can be set out, or adapted to be forced or brought in, so as to be more or less in a straight line with the slidebar G2.

This construction of the wedge-face f2 is adaptable to other forms of-mechanisms for variable feed than that herein described, and it is not intended to limit it to the particular slide-bar C2, herein specially employed.

Having thus described my invention, I shall, state my claim, as follows:

l. The combination, with the feed-bar, of the rod D2, connected to the arm a2 working in the groove I) of the loosely-hung cam-cylinder O,

v in combination with the ratchet-wheel Q, pawl S, and lever U, operated by a cam on the shaft B, in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The cam-cylinders O I, rod D2, slide-bar C2, ratchet-wheels Q It, feed-bar I K, and driving-shaft B, constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as described, and for the purposes-set forth.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 30th day of March, A. l). 1872.

VIM. MUIR. 1xfitnesscs:

EDWIN XV. BROWN, ALBERT lV. BROWN. 

